Archive for the 'Business' Category

The corporate tax rate needs to be dropped. Right… Corporate profits as a % of GDP… Wages as a % of GDP… Who shared the graphs? None other than Mr. Internet Bubble himself, Henry Blodget. He has since reformed and started a reliable site called Business Insider he started a couple years ago. And he’s […]

A very sobering piece to write, no doubt, but needed nonetheless. Especially when you consider the revised GDP numbers from 2008. From Frum Forum: Two years ago, Commerce estimated the decline of the US economy at -0.5% in the third quarter of 2008 and -3.8% in the fourth quarter. It now puts the damage at […]

You can’t look at today’s news and do anything but wince. 18,000 jobs created and the numbers in April and May were revised downward. Unpacking the numbers a bit, 57,000 private sector jobs were created, while budget cuts pushed 39,000 folks out of work in the public sector. So how are businesses doing? Quite well… […]

Hey there corporations! Hope all is well. If the news today is any indication, looks like things are going great! Your profits have gone up seven straight quarters and collectively reached a record high. Here, just take a look at this graph… Wow! You must be pumped! Tweet

I do not believe there is any case to be made for a statistical correlation between market direction and political parties in power that will stand up to rigorous mathematical scrutiny over the long term. However, in the short term, if investors believe that divided government is good for markets, then that expectation can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. That may be what we are seeing in the market now in anticipation of the November results. Apparently the investor class really believes that divided government is good for the market, and we are going to get it in the election.

The title says it all, but here’s a bit more detail… From NY Times: Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $550 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission, one of the largest penalties ever paid by a Wall Street firm, to settle charges of securities fraud linked to mortgage investments. The S.E.C. filed a lawsuit […]

Listen, if a public or private company makes money and wants to keep it close to their chest, that’s their right. But those same businesses can’t then go and collectively fault the White House’s policies for preventing them from hiring more people. And that’s exactly what they’re doing through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and […]

Most investors believe that the stock market will benefit from Republicans taking control of either the House or Senate in the fall. With that expectation, a rising market could very well be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the GOP begins to look like it has a realistic chance of taking control of one house, the opportunities may come along sooner rather than later.